Just a Game // wolf08

A twisted tale of crafty deceptions, sharp obstructions, tangled bonds and true love… Roll the die. Let destiny unfold. After all, it's just a game…

*Authors Note: I've kept this story relatively PG [ish] , by using the symbols #$% to represent vulgar language. However, the odd word or theme does slip through, so readers' digression is advised.

Weekly Song: You're Not Alone- Saosin (Alternative / Rock)

Declaimer: The characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto©, author and artist of the Naruto series. However, this plot is rightfully mine.

-Chapter 3-

Yes, No or Neither?

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The remains of this day certainly felt more lengthy and protracted than usual, especially with the unnerving new facts lingering at the back of Sakura's mind. Whether or not they were good facts, she wasn't sure. Her mind was as uneasy as someone jumping into the water for the first time. She would end up facing one of two outcomes: floating or sinking. There were no other possibilities unless, of course, someone came to her rescue.

By now Tenten, her other best friend who was one year older than her, had been informed by Hinata about the upcoming after-school experience. Like Hinata, she was absolutely exasperated at the idea of Sakura possibly having a secret admirer or secret stalker, and agreed to stay after school and wait with Hinata at the front. Sakura, on the other hand, was having difficulty feeling the same exhilaration she'd felt after first opening the note. She later discovered that the real reason she was going to meet this person, was for her own reassurance—to cleanse her curiosity, like to quench a thirst. A quick glass of water will do, and nothing more. Sakura had not planned to listen to whatever they have to say. All she wanted was to see their face.

And finally, much sooner than later, the end of the day came at last.

After bidding her farewells to her friends, she set off on a journey that would change her life.

The bell had rung exactly five minutes ago and Sakura was slowly approaching the left wing through a crammed hallway. Her heart was racing and her stomach was flipping. Just ahead, through those double-doors only ten metres away, was either her prince charming… or her doom. She was wearing a soft, velvet black jacket with two large buttons in the front over her crimson v-neck, and was she still in her blue jeans and navy hair band. A small reddish-purple bruise had developed on the right side of her face. Her pale, pink hair fluttered behind her due to her brisk pace, and her emerald eyes sparkled with anticipation.

She hesitated before opening the doors. Now was her only chance to turn back. Now or never, now or never, now or- She checked her watch. If she didn't open the doors, she would be late. Taking a deep breath and clutching her cell-phone in her pocket, she opened the doors… and was greeted by…

No one.

Well, technically not no one because thirty or forty feet away to her left, there was a sidewalk filled with students running to catch their bus. To her right she could see the football field peeking out from behind the school, and of course, the odd student or teacher walking across it as a shortcut. She glanced at her watch again. The bell had rung seven minutes ago. She figured that she could wait until the twenty-minute mark. By then she would definitely know that her secret admirer had been a fraud. Just to be sure, she double-checked her surroundings to make sure that no one was secretly watching her from the shadows. When she finally felt safe enough to relax, she leaned on the ledge of a window next to the door and waited.

Each time a person exited though the door, or walked passed her, her mind would buzz and her heart would pound. She studied each one too, searching for a hint or sign… but there were none. After the seventeenth time, her senses weren't quite as alert. Then she saw the pale-skinned, black-haired, gorgeous guy come walking around the corner to her right, and at the same time, three others came walking around the left corner and two came out the door.

She reunited with her senses and her heart skipped several beats. I must look like such a moron, she thought. I'm just sitting here on the window-ledge for no apparent reason. Oooh yeah, isn't this cool? I look like a lost hobo. She decided that it would be best not to look at the people passing (especially that guy) and pretend to be busy with something else. Pretend that she knew what she was doing. So she acted on an impulse by doing what first came to mind: put on lip gloss. So she reached into her pocket to pull out a small plastic tube. She gave it a gentle squeeze, pressing the tube to her lips. A sparkly, pink gel oozed out of a hole in the top, coating her lip with a thin, shiny layer. She smacked them together, satisfied, then took out her cell phone and pretended to be doing something with it.

"Sorry I'm late," she heard the black-haired boy say to one of the other people passing by. Which reminded her of the mystery-person. She shoved her cell back into her pocket and checked her watch. That person had to be here within the next three minutes, or else she was-

"Sakura Haruno?"

Her eyelids snapped open and she immediately lifted head upwards towards the source of the voice.

She then realized that there were now only two people standing by the left wing's exit.

The black-haired boy.

And herself.

She opened her mouth to answer him, but it was too dry. Her mind just couldn't register why he was talking to her all of a sudden. She just sat there- staring right at him, a blush slowly but surely crawling up her cheeks.

"That's your name, right?" he asked, his head tilting to the side, eyebrows raised.

"U-um… yeah…,"she answered slowly.

He looked confused by her lack of response. "Er… you got my note then?"

She nearly gagged.

Rising to her feet, she gasped, "Your note?! You're the guy… who in class…to meet you… my friends said… w-when she slapped me…" She took a deep breath, realizing that her confuddled phrases were totally indecisive. "I mean, why would you want to meet me? I barely even know you!" she said, moulding her previously twisted words into a question.

He took a few steps towards her, shortening the gap between them. Sakura suddenly felt very small and wanted nothing more than to lean back against the window, magically disappear and reappear on the other side. "I want to ask you something," he said slowly, finally stopping two feet away. Watching him carefully, she saw his eyes quickly dart to the bruise on her face, and then back to her own eyes. He folded his arms. Then he said, a little too suddenly, "Will you go out with me?"

Her inner voices were cheering and her body was trembling with glee. Her mind, on the other hand, had absolutely no idea what to do. "I-I-," she started slowly, nervously, "d-don't know…"

He made no effort to hide his shock. Clearly he was not used to being denied or anything on the border-line of rejection. "J-Just… tell me a day of the week that you aren't busy, at least," he said, his words a little more rushed and uneasy. "And a place. Tell me a place and time and I'll be there."

Sakura could not answer him. She did realize that an opportunity like this didn't happen every day… but there was something wrong with the whole situation. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Crap, I didn't write that on the note?! Oh, sorry… I'm Sasuke Uchiha."

Her thoughts darted through memories of recognition. Uchiha? She could swear she'd heard the name recently. Her racing mind skidded to a halt.

Rage building up inside her, Sakura prepared to retort in the most threatening way possible, but was drowned out by a shrill scream from somewhere down the hallway. "Eeeeeek! It's Uchiiihaaaa!" Ino's head snapped around (along with several other girls' heads) to ogle at a boy passing through an intersecting hall.

The significance of this situation sunk in. Fast. Sakura could feel the very same rage pulsating through her veins. This was turning out to be exactly as she'd feared. "I won't fall for it!" she suddenly yelled, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. Rather than trying to comfort her, he jumped back, horrified. It was right then and there that Sakura knew she'd figured him out. "And you can't deny it now: You never wanted to go out with me!" she cried, a tear falling across her bruised cheek. "Ino sent you here, didn't she?! She just wants to get under my skin and mess with my life!" More stray tears fell. "She even told me today that I was more interested in books than boys! So I guess she thought that I'd be desperate to get a boyfriend after that, huh?! Well, she was wrong!"

Sasuke's eyes were wide with confusion and desperation. "W-wait! I don't know what you're talking about!" he said quickly.

"Of course you do!" she managed to splutter between sobs. "You were there when she hit me!"

"I-I was-," he started, shaking his head. "Yeah, I was there! But you don't understand! I'm not on her side! She just follows me around! That's all!"

"What a likely story," she snapped. "Goodbye, Sasuke Uchiha. Nice try," she said with a dismissive wave over her shoulder before running around the corner towards the front of the school, tears still trickling down her cheeks.

She didn't care about what the passers-by would think.

She continued to run until she spotted Tenten and Hinata.

And threw herself into their arms.

Crying it out on their shoulders.

"So how'd it go?" Naruto asked as soon as Sasuke arrived at their meeting place—a small area between portables at the rear exit of the school. He and Shikamaru had been playing a round of one-on-one basketball while awaiting Sasuke's return. "Did she say yes?"

He stared at them for a few long moments before shaking his head.

Naruto dropped the basketball he'd been twirling on his finger. "She… rejected you?!"

He shook his head again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. There are only two possible answers to this question," Shikamaru said. "And you disagreed with both. Did you even meet her at all?"

"I did!" Sasuke snapped defensively. "And… alright, she rejected me. Sort of." Naruto and Shikamaru stared with confusion. "Ok, ok. She did reject me. But that was only because… she misunderstood. She thought that Ino forced me to ask her out or something like that. So then she yelled at me, and then she ran away crying." Sasuke was not intending to tell his friends any further details. "I didn't know what to say."

Naruto sighed with a sympathetic smile. "I understand then, Sasuke. It wasn't really your fault so we'll give you one more day to pick someone else to date for three weeks. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah, I don't think we gave that girl enough time to cool down from her fight with Ino," Shikamaru added. "Girls are like that, I guess. They always hold grudges and think that everyone's out to get them. Or who knows? Maybe she just isn't the right one for you. Things just don't work out sometimes and you can't change that."

Sasuke was bewildered. They expected him to give up on her? And so suddenly? Besides, how could she not be the right girl for him?! Everything was right for Sasuke if he wanted it to be! After all of that work and thought he'd put into getting her apart from everyone else, and after summoning up all of that courage to actually ask her out, it would be such a shame to waste it all. He couldn't leave her believing that he and Ino were secretly plotting against her! No, she had it all mixed up! He wanted to use her to help him to plot against Ino! "I'm not through with Sakura Haruno," he said suddenly. "I think that I just need to talk to her again. I'll make her believe me."

"Why not just start fresh?" Shikamaru asked.

It was a good option. He could just start fresh and ask someone else… but then a dreadful, empty feeling settled in his chest. His stubbornness led to determination. No, he wouldn't give up easily. He always had to have his way. Even if he had to fight for it. "No… I don't think that I could do that just yet. I'll give her one more chance to believe me." He paused. "Besides," he said, looking up, "I don't want to miss this opportunity. My fangirls hate her. And if they think that I have bad enough taste to date her, maybe they'd start to hate me."

"That doesn't sound likely…," Shikamaru muttered. "But alright then. If you think that you know what you're doing, then go ahead. We won't stop you."

"I don't think we can stop him," Naruto said with a smirk. "I bet that he's so into asking her out because he has the hots for her." It would take weeks for the new lump on Naruto's head to heal.

Chapter 2 Reviewers:

Emma0707, alayneni, sasusaku779, Angel Dying Red, Angel's Archer, NekoDoodle, Hakumei-Tenshi, Midami Uchiha of the Sand, AkaiYuki13, Geanie-chan101

I really can't thank you all enough! Keep on checking your e-mails! ^_^

**QUIZ! Yay I've posted a quiz in my profile! If you're interested in finding out whether you're most like Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata or Gaara and why, try out my quiz and P.M. or e-mail me your results!

-Chapter 4: Strategy-

Time to REVIEW! :)